A given computer system (a data center, for example) that processes and/or stores sensitive data typically employs measures to protect the data from unauthorized access. For example, the computer system may process and/or store such sensitive information, as credit cardholder data, patient records, personnel information, intellectual property, and so forth.
The protective measures may guard against unauthorized access while the sensitive data is in motion (while the data is being communicated across communication channels, for example). For example, the computer system may encrypt data that is communicated across communication channels. The protective measures may further guard against access to cryptographic keys that are stored by the computer system and used by the system to encrypt/decrypt the sensitive data.